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Green Party congressional candidate Hassig complains he isn't allowed in debates

Posted 10/9/12

Green Party congressional candidate Donald Hassig of Colton is complaining that he is not invited to upcoming debates and candidate chats that will feature Rep. Bill Owens, Democrat of Plattsburgh, …

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Green Party congressional candidate Hassig complains he isn't allowed in debates

Posted

Green Party congressional candidate Donald Hassig of Colton is complaining that he is not invited to upcoming debates and candidate chats that will feature Rep. Bill Owens, Democrat of Plattsburgh, and challenger Republican Matt Doheny of Watertown.

Hassig was part of the first debate, sponsored by the Farm Bureau and held in Queensbury, just north of Glens Falls, Sept. 25.

Plattsburgh television station WPTZ hosts a candidate debate on Oct. 16 in Plattsburgh.

“I have not been invited to participate,” Hassig writes in a press statement claiming that WPTZ’s news director “refuses to respond to my requests for dialogue.”

YNN TV in Syracuse will conduct a debate in Watertown later this month. “Once again, I have not been invited to participate,” Hassig said, adding that Michael Johnson, producer of the evening Capital Now program, “was willing to discuss YNN's decision to exclude the Green Party. He stated that only candidates who had received 10 percent respondent support in an independent poll were eligible to participate.”

And the League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women of St. Lawrence County are sponsoring a "Candidate Conversations" series that is produced and broadcast by WCKN TV, the Clarkson University television station.

“This series is the only avenue open to candidates for outreach to Clarkson University students. I have not been given the opportunity to participate in this candidate awareness building activity,” Hassig said.

The Queensbury debate can be seen via a link from Mountain Lake PBS at http://borderlessnorth.org/videos/mountain-lake-journal-october-4-2012